CASAGRANDE AND O’SCANLON: WHAT ARE THE DETAILS OF CORZINE’S NEW TOLL PLAN?

RUSHING PLAN THROUGH DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS OF JUNE IS NOT A GOOD WAY TO MAKE PUBLIC POLICY 

Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande and Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon today said that they are awaiting details of Governor Corzine’s new “targeted” toll hike plan, and warned that any plan the Governor seeks to rush through the Legislature in just two weeks should be greeted with skepticism.

“Governor Corzine didn’t get the message that New Jersey motorists do not want to pay more tolls at a time when gas prices and property taxes have made this state unaffordable for many families,” said Casagrande, R-Monmouth and Mercer. “If the Governor is planning a scaled back toll hike, he needs to explain right now where those toll hikes will take place and by how much he proposes to increase those tolls.”

Governor Corzine’s original toll plan, unveiled in January, called for borrowing $40 billion and increasing tolls by as much as 800 percent on the Garden State Parkway, New Jersey Turnpike and Atlantic City Expressway. The plan met with staunch public opposition and Corzine eventually had to concede that the plan could not pass as originally structured.

On Monday, Corzine officials leaked word that the Governor is considering a scaled-back toll hike plan to meet state transportation needs. The plan would likely include smaller toll hikes than his original plan, but no details were made available as to the actual amount of the increase – or which roads would be affected.

“Proposing to deal with this issue between the budget vote in mid-June and July 1st smells like an effort to sneak a bill through the Legislature without adequate review,” said O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth and Mercer. “This is far too important an issue, with far too great an impact on New Jersey residents, to rush through legislation that hasn’t been fully vetted. Any talk of a toll increase is premature when the administration has failed to prove to the public that the money we are currently spending is being spent wisely.”

O’Scanlon and Casagrande noted that the public should be skeptical that these toll hikes would actually pay for transportation projects since the state has a history of raiding such funds for other “needs.”

#####